Michael

 

Bikes lined up, filling the courtyard of the Predators’ clubhouse. Saturdays were busy with the members who worked off club grounds coming in to relax and shoot the shit. Women paraded around the lot by their old men who wanted to show off their goods before heading into the bar. Inside we’d find more of the same, but the women would be trolling the lounge for unattached bikers.

 

Lauren slid off my bike and removed her helmet, looking nonplussed about where we were. I remembered it wasn’t her first time in a club hangout, but fuck, it should have been.

 

“Think they’ll have bottled water in there?” she asked with a grin, jerking a thumb to the club entrance.

 

“Don’t drink anything I didn’t hand you personally. Got it?” I gave her ass a smack before I headed toward the clubhouse. I heard her little yelp, but didn’t give a fuck. That ass was mine, and I’d slap it, spank it, or fucking lick it whenever I wanted to. Better she get used to that now. I wasn’t fucking around when I said I’d never leave her again. That woman was all mine, and I meant it for the long haul.

 

A few members called out greetings to me as I stepped up onto the patio encircling the club. I pulled Lauren closer to me and made the rounds with my hellos and introducing her. I could see the steam building in her as I explained she was mine to anyone who walked up to us, but she didn’t understand the fucking longing in most of those assholes’ eyes. They were my brothers, even without my kutte, and I’d fucking kill anyone who tried to get at them, but I’d also chop off the dick of any single one of them who touched my girl.

 

“Why don’t you just tattoo it on my forehead,” she muttered as I held the door open for her.

 

I wanted to slap her ass again, just to let her know I heard, but instead let it go. A few of the women inside were going to notice my return, and I didn’t need to make my mark on Lauren just yet. I needed a few minutes alone with Mickey, and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on that if I had to worry about a cat fight starting out in the bar area.

 

“Mike! What brings you in?” Johnny, the VP and oldest member of the club, slapped my back hard with a toothy grin. The tats from his youth displaying up and down his arms, as well as across his back and chest, were faded, but not less notable.

 

“Just need quick word with Taylor.” I hauled Lauren up to my side. Johnny may have been nearly thirty years older than me, but that didn’t make him any less persuasive in the women department.

 

I noticed the sharp stares at Lauren from a small cluster of women standing across the room. Two of the three were old flings––the third one looked too fucking young to even be in the bar, let alone trying to get in my pants.

 

“He’s in the back. Working on some paperwork or something. Fucking garage business. Man, I could not have been smarter staying away from that shit.” Johnny shook his head. Deep scars covered his chin and half of his face, documenting his long trial with the Predators.

 

When Mickey pulled me into his special auto team, Johnny tried talking me out of it. Said he’d go to bat for me with Mickey if I needed. He wouldn’t let me get yanked in that shit, but I was young and fucking stupid. Thought my balls were made of steel.

 

“This your woman?” His eyes washed over Lauren’s body. She tried to smile while he took stock of her. Johnny wouldn’t touch her, or any other woman in the place. His old lady would cut off his balls if she even suspected his hands had been on any other piece of ass besides hers.

 

“My name is Lauren.” Her chin thrust upwards and her shoulders rolled back. I wondered if she would keep trying to look so damn tough if she knew how much her posture exposed the roundness of her fucking tits. The cotton t-shirt she wore stretched over her breasts as she thrust her hand out for him to shake.

 

Johnny laughed and clasped her hand. “Nice to meet you, but if anyone else asks if you belong to this asshole here, better just say yes. You don’t want any of them thinking they got a shot at you.” He gave her a wink that sent a heated flush to her cheeks.

 

I leaned in close to her ear. “The man asked if you were my woman, Lauren. Would you rather I tell him no?” I slid my arm around her waist, letting my fingers dip into the waistband of her shorts. Her stomach tensed at my question and she gave a little shake of her head. Johnny watched the exchange with an entertained grin.

 

“I need to have a few words with Mickey. Would you mind keeping an eye on my girl here?” I kept my fingers on her waist but looked toward Johnny. “Is Nikki here with you? Maybe she can babysit. “

 

“I don’t need a babysitter,” Lauren shot at me, yanking my hand away from her.

 

I smiled. “It’s just a saying, Lauren. Some of these women aren’t all that happy to be seeing me here with you on my arm, and the guys who aren’t attached to some piece of ass at the moment are just waiting for a chance to get to you.”

 

“I’ve been in a club before, Michael. I did just fine.”

 

“You were dating the VP of the club, that was different. And I don’t ever want you to remind me that fuckhead had his hands on you again, understood?”

 

“Shit. I thought you looked a little familiar. You were Colton’s girl for a while.” Johnny pointed a finger at her, but kept his eyes on me. “You aren’t in with those assholes, are you?”

 

“Fuck you for even asking that.” I looked around the club, the amount of men casting glances at my girl was starting to piss me off. Some of them didn’t know me, new members, and they wouldn’t know how possessive I was until my fist connected with their faces. “Lauren’s a friend from high school. She had a momentary lapse in sanity a while back and got mixed up with that prick.”

 

Johnny studied me for a long minute. “There’s more here than you’re telling me.”

 

“I don’t know how you guys know Colton, but he wasn’t a bad guy,” Lauren interjected, then shrunk back slightly when our glares met her. The last thing I wanted to hear was her defending the VP of the rival club in the area.

 

“There’s more,” I admitted to Johnny. “Mickey’s mixed up in some shit that’s coming down at her door. I just need to talk with him.”

 

Johnny took in a deep breath. “Tell me everything. If that fucker is mixed up with the Fallen, I want to know about it.” He looked over both shoulders then jerked his head to the right, where a spot near the corner of the room was empty. We moved away from prying eyes and ears. Lauren leaned against the wall. “There’s been some concern among the older members lately, Mike. Mick’s been getting messy with his car trafficking shit; most of the club knows it’s the secondary income for the club. Since it’s been operating without any club votes, some of the members want it to stop. The cops have been by the garage at least twice a month over the past six months snooping. The newer members are getting scared. This generation ain’t like mine. Some of them have the heart for it, some of them just want to ride their bikes and wear their kuttes with pride. Without the new members, though, the club is gonna fold. The Fallen are gonna start picking off the weak guys like the fucking vultures they are.”

 

“If they’re weak, why would you want them?” Lauren asked.

 

“They have the balls, sweetheart, it’s not that they don’t. But they don’t have the stomach to fight a president who goes behind their backs, a president who has allowed more than a few go to prison for his shit.” Johnny gave me a meaningful look. “I heard about the attempt on you while you were locked away. That was fucking bullshit. No one here knew about it, man. I would have stopped him if I’d known.”

 

“He tried to kill you?” Lauren’s eyes widened and she stepped between me and Johnny. “You didn’t tell me that.” She fisted her hands on her hips. Johnny stepped back a little to give her room and looked on with amusement. Not many women would have the balls to do what she just did. The woman had no idea how strong she really was, or how much at that moment I wanted to kiss the breath out of her. If only to make sure she remembered who was in charge around there.

 

“I was a loose end, Lauren. Sitting in jail being asked a shit ton of questions about the club and Mick, I was a liability. It wasn’t personal.” My explanation didn’t appease her at all; if anything her eyes grew wider and the tension increased in her body. A body I wanted to strum with my fingers; the angrier she got on my behalf the more I wanted to claim her again and again, and didn’t give a fuck who watched.

 

“How are you not a loose end now? Didn’t you come here to talk to him a few days ago? He knows you suspect him and that guy, what was his name, Matthew, for having something to do with the car accident. You made yourself another loose end because of me.” She held back the tremor in her voice pretty well but I could see the panic in her eyes as she started to get herself all riled up.

 

“I’m not a threat to him, or the club, Lauren. But he is a threat to you.”

 

“Wait. What’s Matthew got to do with this?” Johnny gently nudged Lauren back to the side.

 

I took a deep breath and ran my hand through my hair. “Fuck. I’ll just start at the beginning.” I went on to tell him everything I knew so far, everything Lauren had told me and what Bixby had managed to dig up. Johnny could be trusted, that I knew. When I opened my own garage, he’d been the one to send a few guys my way for work. He watched out for the club members. More than once, he’d been asked to challenge Mick for the president seat, but he never went along with it. He loved his club, he loved his brothers, but he wouldn’t go against his president. Not yet. He watched out for his brothers and the club from the VP chair; taking on the president seat wouldn’t give him as much freedom.

 

After I finished the story, that sounded a hell of a lot like a damn soap opera before I was done, Johnny’s arms were crossed over his chest and his eyes were dark and narrow. “This kid, Pierre, he put his hands on her and is still breathing?”

 

“He was just trying to scare me.” Lauren placed a hand on his forearm and damn if the big guy didn’t soften his smile in her direction. “I’m fine.”

 

“I can see that, sweetheart. If I ask you to go over to the bar and get yourself something to drink, think you’ll be able to do that for me?” He didn’t know Lauren—talking to her like a little girl wasn’t going to get her to do anything.

 

“No, but if you ask me to give the two of you a minute so you can discuss this all behind my back, I’ll do it.” She smiled just as sweetly when she gave him her answer.

 

He threw his head back and burst out in laughter. “Fuck, she’s gonna be a handful for you.”

 

I took a deep breath. “Already is.” I removed her hand from his arm and pointed to the bar. “Go get yourself something to drink. I need to talk to Johnny for a minute.”

 

“I can help, if you’ll just tell me what you’re thinking. I can help. I mean, this is because of me.”

 

“Get your drink.” I gave her a little shove toward the bar. I wanted to give her a slap on the ass, but too many people were watching, and she’d more than likely start a fight with me over the action. The last thing I needed at that moment was to have to haul her ass over my shoulder and out of the club to deal with her. She’d comply well enough if I kept my Neanderthal tendencies to a minimum. But later, later I’d get all the grunts and moans I wanted from her while I did whatever the fuck I wanted to her—and she’d love every damn second of it.

 

“She dated Colton?” Johnny watched her making her way through the crowd of people to an empty seat at the end of the bar. Her washed out jean shorts and cotton t-shirt didn’t exactly scream biker chick.

 

I gave a little laugh. “Not for long. You know how he is, too much hunger for power in that guy.”

 

“Yeah, not like you at all.” He ran his eyes over me and laughed.

 

“Fuck you. I’m not controlling like that asshole. He doesn’t trust anyone, always thinks his chicks are cheating on him, or thinking of cheating on him. Lauren wouldn’t ever do that to me.”

 

“You love control as much as he does; you just need it for different reasons.”

 

As true as that statement was, I didn’t need a counseling session. “I would never hurt a hair on that woman’s head, if that’s what you’re saying.”

 

He laughed again. “No, I know what you do with your women. And by the way that girl looks at you, she knows it, too.”

 

“You know you get more perverted every year you age.” I tried to insult him, but fuck if he weren’t right.

 

“No more than you. Now. About this shit with your girl. Mick’s been hiding shit from the club; that’s why there’s so much tension around here lately. Matthew was in here the other night, looked like someone took a tire iron to his face.”

 

“Nah, just my fist.” I shook my head.

 

“He’s lucky you didn’t kill him.”

 

“I would have, except Lauren asked me not to, and she told me not to steal from him.” I had to add that part because it still made me want to laugh. The only thing about that memory was her telling me not to steal from her attacker.

 

“Yeah? The girl looks like more innocent than I’ve seen in a while, but something tells me there’s more to her.”

 

“Fuck yeah. I talked with Matthew. He said Mick sent him. He didn’t know why Mick would give a shit about the internship. But I think I have that part put together. This Daniel Leonard guy, who thinks Lauren lifted his drugs, is the father of the asshole at school harassing her about the internship. My gut tells me that’s what’s driving all this. I doubt Leonard gives two shits about the internship, other than his son wants what she has, but what I don’t get is how the club gets involved.”

 

“What was the name of the guy she worked for when she was running those packages?”

 

“Tanner.”

 

“Hmmm. That sounds familiar. Big guy, a little weird? Dresses different all the time…like some sort of fucking cartoon character?”

 

I grinned. “Yeah, that sounds like him. Lauren says he likes to reinvent himself a lot.”

 

“Yeah. I know him. Long time ago, before you were even a twinkle in Mick’s eye, he came to the club, reached out for business. Wanted to know if we’d like to partner up. Mick didn’t like the idea of running drugs or having any partners outside the club, and no one else did either. Thanked him for the offer but said no. He took it fine, just moved on.”

 

“I wonder if Mick said yes later on. Maybe not to Tanner but another dealer?”

 

“Man, if he’s slinging drugs, I haven’t heard a peep about that. Everyone seems to know about his little secret car ring, but no one has said a word about drugs.”

 

“How has this fucker been president for so damn long when everyone knows he runs shit behind the club’s back?”

 

Just as I asked my question, Mick walked into the bar with Lucy under his arm. His eyes swept the room. When he noticed Lauren, his smile dropped. Not by much, but enough that I noticed. He whispered something to Lucy and sent her off with a little pat to her ass.

 

I walked away from Johnny, reaching Lauren’s side at the same time Mick did. “Hey, Mick.” I draped my arm over her shoulders. She looked up at me, a little startled by my sudden presence, then to Mick.

 

“Mike, what brings you around? You know it’s a club members only bar.”

 

“I wanted to talk to you. A little chat is all.”

 

He eyed me, then Lauren. “Leave her here.” He motioned for me to follow him and headed back to his office.

 

“Stay put. Johnny will keep an eye on you but if anyone messes with you, you just find him, okay?”

 

“He looked angry to see me. I don’t know him. Why is he pissed at me?”

 

“It’s just how he looks, babe,” I lied. I kissed her hard enough to leave her dazed, and to let anyone know who saw that she was taken.